As a counterpoint to the thread about the British restraint during the Falklands/Malvinas War, this thread can discuss what might have happened if the Argentines had been less restrained.
One alternative scenario I have had knocking around in my head for a long time is what if, as a point of departure, the Argentine Task Force which had captured the Falklands/Malvinas Islands had gone north to Ascension Island and raided there. Its objective would have been to wreck the runway at Wideawake. This would have delayed the British build up the necessary weeks which would have forced the Task Force to stop operations to retake South Georgia and the Falklands/Malvinas because of the onset of Winter in the South Atlantic. Weather is a factor which is too often overlooked in these discussions and was the real driver of the British timetable. If their operations had been delayed even by a few weeks, they would have found it impossible to keep ships on station and fly off aircraft for the extended time required to take the Islands in the middle of a South Atlantic winter.
The raid would have consisted of a landing (virtually unopposed) by the Argentine Marines and a determined effort to destroy the runway, hand standings and POL holding areas in and around the airfield. Of course, care would have had to be exercised not to disturb the American base on the Island but such a raid would have been possible while carving up the runways and hard standing with earth-moving Plant a surer of doing it than attempting to rely upon bombs from the small number of aircraft carried.
Of course, this assumes that the Veinticinco De Mayo was able to keep its engines going long enough to reach Ascension and return.
One alternative scenario I have had knocking around in my head for a long time is what if, as a point of departure, the Argentine Task Force which had captured the Falklands/Malvinas Islands had gone north to Ascension Island and raided there. Its objective would have been to wreck the runway at Wideawake. This would have delayed the British build up the necessary weeks which would have forced the Task Force to stop operations to retake South Georgia and the Falklands/Malvinas because of the onset of Winter in the South Atlantic. Weather is a factor which is too often overlooked in these discussions and was the real driver of the British timetable. If their operations had been delayed even by a few weeks, they would have found it impossible to keep ships on station and fly off aircraft for the extended time required to take the Islands in the middle of a South Atlantic winter.
The raid would have consisted of a landing (virtually unopposed) by the Argentine Marines and a determined effort to destroy the runway, hand standings and POL holding areas in and around the airfield. Of course, care would have had to be exercised not to disturb the American base on the Island but such a raid would have been possible while carving up the runways and hard standing with earth-moving Plant a surer of doing it than attempting to rely upon bombs from the small number of aircraft carried.
Of course, this assumes that the Veinticinco De Mayo was able to keep its engines going long enough to reach Ascension and return.